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1640 circa Willem Janszoon Blaeu
$ 875.00
Description

Fine old color example of Blaeu's first map of Brazil, with north oriented to the right.

Includes inset map of Baya de todos Santos, elaborate cartouche, 2 compass roses and richly embellished vignettes of native Brazilian life and animals.

The interior of the interior of the map includes vignettes of indigenous animals and native scenes, including cannibalism. Inset within a decorative border is a small map of "Baya de todos Sanctos". In the sea are monsters, a galleon and two compass roses. The large title cartouche features a male and female Brazilian, both of whom are shown naked.

Condition Description
Old Color. Minor fold split and abrasion at lower centerfold. Two tape repairs.
Willem Janszoon Blaeu Biography

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638) was a prominent Dutch geographer and publisher. Born the son of a herring merchant, Blaeu chose not fish but mathematics and astronomy for his focus. He studied with the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, with whom he honed his instrument and globe making skills. Blaeu set up shop in Amsterdam, where he sold instruments and globes, published maps, and edited the works of intellectuals like Descartes and Hugo Grotius. In 1635, he released his atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas novus.

Willem died in 1638. He had two sons, Cornelis (1610-1648) and Joan (1596-1673). Joan trained as a lawyer, but joined his father’s business rather than practice. After his father’s death, the brothers took over their father’s shop and Joan took on his work as hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. Later in life, Joan would modify and greatly expand his father’s Atlas novus, eventually releasing his masterpiece, the Atlas maior, between 1662 and 1672.